New Hampshire committee recommendation on ‘opt-in/opt-out’ decision could be delayed until early December

Editor's note: This story has been updated to remove an incorrect reference to the District of Columbia making an "opt-in" decision. The District of Columbia has not made an "opt-in/opt-out" decision and has an active procurement seeking a potential vendor to build the LTE radio access network (RAN) within its borders. IWCE's Urgent Communications regrets the error and apologizes for any inconvenience it may have caused.

A New Hampshire committee tasked with assessing whether Gov. Chris Sununu should make a FirstNet “opt-in” announcement or pursue the “opt-out” alternative could delay making its recommendation until Dec. 8, according to a state official familiar with the proceedings.

New Hampshire’s five-member Opt-Out Review Committee convened on Wednesday and had been expected to “complete its due diligence by Nov. 21,” according to a letter that Sununu distributed to fellow governors last month. But the committee this week indicated that it may not make its recommendation until early December, according to John Stevens, New Hampshire’s single point of contact (SPOC) who is not on the review committee but attended the public portion of the meeting.

“It has a larger window now—it could conclude prior to this, but the deadline now is now Dec. 8 [for the committee to make its recommendation to Gov. Sununu],” Stevens said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications. “It could happen before, but that’s the new date that’s been provided.”

Notably missing from Wednesday’s meeting was a representative from AT&T, FirstNet’s nationwide contractor that would be responsible for building and operating the LTE radio access network (RAN) in the state for the next 25 years, if Sununu makes an “opt-in” decision.

“Evidently, they had a scheduling issue,” Stevens said. “They were not there.”

Stevens said he believes the review committee would like to hear from AT&T before making its recommendation to Sununu.

“I think they want that [presentation from AT&T],” he said. “I think what they’re doing is their due diligence, which I totally understand and respect. This is very important decision by the governor, and he wants to make sure that he has a complete understanding of the ‘opt-in’ or ‘opt-out’ decision.”

Committee members are scheduled to meet on Nov. 21 and Dec. 1, Stevens said.

Established by Sununu on Oct. 16, New Hampshire’s Opt-Out Review Committee was created to identify and assess all of the legal and financial risks the state would face, if Sununu decides to pursue the “opt-out” scenario, which would make the state—not FirstNet contractor AT&T—responsible for building and operating the LTE radio access network (RAN) within its borders for the next 25 years.

Governors in all 50 states and three territories have until Dec. 28 make their “opt-in/opt-out” decisions. If a governor does not take action, the state will be treated as an “opt-in” state.

In a letter dated Oct. 23 about the FirstNet “opt-in/opt-out” choice, Sununu told other governors that “I believe there are some very important questions that still need to be answered, and I urge each of you to hold off on making a final decision while we seek further information from federal officials.”

Since Sununu distributed his letter, five states have announced “opt-in” decisions.